What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/The Pebble and the Penguin
The Pebble and the Penguin is a 1995 American-Irish animated musical adventure comedy-drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and Sullivan Bluth Studios. It is produced by Dora Wilson, Russell Boland and James Butterworth, directed by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Manuel Garcia Ferré, and starring the voices of Martin Short, Annie Golden, Jim Belushi and Tim Curry. Based on the true life mating rituals of the Adélie penguins in Antarctica, the film centers around a timid, stuttering penguin named Hubie who tries to impress a beautiful penguin named Marina by giving her a pebble that fell from the sky, but is thrown out by a evil musuclar penguin named Drake who also wants to marry Marina. So Hubie, alongside with the help of an rockhopper penguin named Rocko, must to travel back to Antarctica to reclaim Marina from Drake. Production to The Pebble and the Penguin had begun in 1991, TBD. TBD. Towards the end of production, DreamWorks made giant changes for the film, which caused the uncredited directors of the film, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, to left the film and start working on a new animation studio in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the last film to be produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios before its bankruptcy in 1995. The film was released to theaters by DreamWorks Pictures (on the United States and worldwide), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (on selected countries) and Warner Bros. (on some countries) on April 12, 1995. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, but was a box office disaster. While the film was not an financial success, it later gained a cult following after its release on home video, which became one of the biggest-selling VHS releases ever in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Plot Hubie is a shy and good hearted penguin who is in love wit a beautiful female penguin named Marina. His competition for Marina's affection is Drake, a muscular yet cruel penguin who is said to always get his way. One night, Hubie finally talks to Marina and they discuss their feelings for each other, but Hubie is unable to find a suitable pebble to propose to Marina with due to both his clumsiness and the other penguins desperately trying to find pebbles too. He wishes on a star to make his dream come true and he receives a beautiful emerald cube from the sky, which he does consider a pebble. Hubie ecstatically rushes to find Marina but is thwarted by Drake, who mocks the penguin telling him nobody will marry somebody like him. When Drake demands Hubie to give him the emerald, Hubie refuses and Drake throws him into the water. Hubie narrowly escapes from a leopard seal and climbs onto a piece of an iceberg where he is swept away from Antarctica Hubie is picked up by humans and caged on their ship called "Misery", which transports penguins to a zoo and meets a tough, grumpy, streetwise and somewhat arrogant but good-hearted rockhopper penguin named Rocko. After seeing in a vision Marina having a dilemma, Hubie decides to escape with Rocko and flees, before laying low on a beach. Rocko reluctantly tells Hubie about his desire to fly and live in tropical climate. He convinces him to help him return to Antarctica by making up a lie about a flying penguin named Waldo. They have a short fight after Rocko tries to fly off "an authentic, ancient aviarial airstrip" and another after Rocko saved Hubie from a killer whale. Back in Antarctica, Drake begins to threaten Marina for her hand in mating. If Marina refuses, she will be forced to leave, as it goes against tradition. Hubie and Rocko attempt to depart, but Rocko discovers Hubie lied to him and attempts to attack Hubie, but soon starts laughing, praising Hubie's determination to get back to Marina. Back in Antarctica, Marina becomes worried about Hubie. Hubie and Rocko run into an hungry and persistent leopard seal but are able to escape it. With that, they become true friends (though it takes prodding from Hubie for Rocko to admit it). They are later attacked by a pod of killer whales. During the scuffle, Hubie's pebble is lost and Rocko is presumed to killed by the killer whales. Hubie confronts Drake and defeats him in their final fight by doing martial arts Rocko tearched him. Drake falls off a cliff. He finds Marina and is about to propose to her. Suddenly, Drake bursts out from underneath in a final attack. This causes his tower to collapse on top of him, killing him. However, Rocko, who survived the killer whale attack, saves Hubie and Marina and gives the pebble to them. During the escape, Rocko's dream for flight comes true as he flies himself, Hubie, and Marina to safety. Rocko hands Hubie his emerald. He presents it to Marina, who loves it, but loves Hubie more. Rocko remains in Antarctica with Hubie and Marina, and sometime later, he teaches their children how to fly. Cast * Martin Short as Hubie * Annie Golden as Marina * Jim Belushi as Rocko * Tim Curry as Drake * Alissa King as Petra * Louise Vallance as Priscilla and Chinstrap 2 * Will Ryan as Royal and Tika * Neil Ross as Scrawny * Stan Jones as McCallister * S. Scott Bullock as Chubby and Gentoo * Philip L. Clarke as King * Shani Wallis as the narrator * B. J. Ward as Megellenic 1 * Hamilton Camp as Megellenic 2 * Angeline Ball as Gwynne and Chinstrap 3 * Kendall Cunningham as Timmy * Pat Musick as Chinstrap 1 * Michael Nunes as Beany * Maggie Roswell as additional voices Production Conception Animation and research Production problems Music The songs were written by Barry Manilow, who previously wrote the songs for DreamWorks' Song of the Amazon and Don Bluth's Thumbelina, along with longtime collaborator and lyricist Bruce Sussman. The film's score was composed by Mark Watters. Manilow, who had "started off wanting to be a composer," got an opportunity to do this when he was approached to "compose songs and the underscore" for the film and Thumbelina. Barbadian singer Geoffrey Holder sang the deleted song "The Beachmaster" for the film. An accompanying soundtrack was released on April 11, 1995. The instruments in the songs and score were performed by The Irish Film Orchestra. Release Marketing Short films Goldy and the Fishing Trouble In The Pebble and the Penguin 's international release, a Dreamtoons short film Goldy and the Fishing Trouble, starring Goldy Locks, was accompanied in its theater run. TBD Driving Mr. Pink The Pebble and the Penguin was accompanied in its selected countires' theater run by a new Pink Panther short entitled Driving Mr. Pink in the some selected countries, including United Sates, which was adapted from an episode of the successful Pink Panther TV series. It is a late one-off short in the Pink Panther short series - they were abundant and popular until 1980. SFGate described the short as "loud, obnoxious, and idiotic". The short introduced the character of Voodoo Man from the 1995 TV show. In the cartoon, "an animated woman runs out of a department store with only her underwear on". It also "features car chases, yelling, and Pink Panther getting knocked around", and "there is a veiled reference to an offensive gesture during the Pink Panther cartoon". Carrotblanca Another animated short film that was attracted to The Pebble and the Penguin in theaters in other countries was Carrotblanca, a new Looney Tunes short that parodies Casablanca, with Bugs Bunny as TBD, Penélope Pussycat as TBD and Yosemite Sam as TBD. TBD Reception Box office Critical reception Awards Home media Quotes *'Hubie:' (repeated line) Goodness glaciers! ---- *'Timmy': Hi, Hubie. Tell us a story. *'Petra': Yes, a love story. *'Beany': (disgusted) Ugh, that's mushy stuff! *'Petra': (annoyed) Oh, Beany! *'Hubie': Well, once there was a penguin, who fell in love with the most beautiful girl penguin in the whole rookery. *'Petra': Did she love you back? *'Hubie': They never even met. You see, he was... painfully shy. *'Petra': Oh... *'Hubie': Well one day, (cross his fingers behind his back) he-he just swam up to her and said, "Hello, Marina, I'm Hubie and I think you're fabulous!" (Hubie, Timmy and Petra shakes with laughter. Hubie sighs and then confesses three little birds the truth, feeling annoyed to himself) Who am I k-k-kidding? I n-never even t-talked to the girl! (However, after getting up from the snaow floor, Hubie loses his balance and then slides down the side of the bluff. Timmy, Petra, and Beany watch him go, until he crashes into Marina, who gets up and sees Hubie laying on his back) G-goodness glaciers! M-m-Marina! *TBD ---- *'Drake': So, nerd, I hear you wanna be a big ladies' man. Ha! Marina is mine! (He pushes Hubie up to a cliff) *'Hubie: '(retaliating) "You big b-b-bully!" *(Drake grabs Hubie's scarf and glares at him) *'Drake:' Wake up and smell the seaweed, you little fool! Nobody's going to marry a loser like you. (Hubie hides a pebble from him) Now, give me that stupid pebble! *'Hubie:' No, it's for Marina! ---- * (After Rocko's another failed attempt to fly, upon falling down from the ledge to the small island nearby where lays on the ground groaning in pain in his flipper, Hubie attempts to help him) * 'Hubie: '''Goodness glaciers! Rocko, are you alright? Rocko? * '''Rocko: '''Get away from me! * '''Hubie: '''But I-I just-- * '''Rocko: '''Don't touch me! Just get away! * '''Hubie: '(holding up Rocko) I was... just trying to--- * 'Rocko: '(releases from Hubie's grip) I don't need any help. Just get away from me now! * 'Hubie: '(discouraged as leaving Rocko) Fine! S-s-s-suit yourself! * 'Rocko: '(lay back on the ground) I will. Just keep going. Go back to the little green-eyes, or whatever her name is. * 'Hubie: '''Well, m-maybe I will! * '''Rocko: '''Yeah, go. (''However, he is flabbergasted to watch Hubie is about leave away to the ocean) * 'Hubie: '''S-s-see how long you last in your own. * '''Rocko: '''Hubie. Uh... NO! (''launches to stop him by grabbing him back from the ocean) No. I mean.. No, uh.. wait. Uh... * 'Hubie: '(expressly) So you decided to apologize, huh? Well, then I-- * 'Rocko: '''Don't be stupid. I don't apologize to anybody. (''turns Hubie's head to the ocean) Look. (To Hubie's horror, he gazes at something that Rocko is warning him about; it is an orca, or killer whale, splashing into a water) That, pebble-brian, is a killer whale, the meanest killing machine on these waters. * 'Hubie: '(impressed in his relief) Goodness glaciers.. You s-saved my life. * 'Rocko: '(annoyed) Aw, no. C'mon, don't get all whiny about it. Just go, go, go play with your pebble. It's no big deal. Just go, go. Leave alone. * 'Hubie: '''No. No I'm s-s-serious. I'd could've been killed. * '''Rocko: '(sighs) I started to wish you had. Just go away, will you? * 'Hubie: '''Can't you even that admit that you'd liked me just a little? * '''Rocko: '''What?! I don't like you! I hate you! I just happen to hate killer whales, a little bit more than you, that's all! * '''Hubie: '''Is that s-so? * '''Rocko: '''Yeah! * '''Hubie: '(as the weather begins to rain) Well then fine! * 'Rocko: '"Fine" is right! * 'Hubie: '''When the whale leaves, we'll just go our separate ways then! * '''Rocko: '''Yeah well sounds good to me. I don't need to be seen with--- (''suddenly thunderclaps, much it frights both Hubie and Rocko as they run around in the frantic, avoiding lighting struck, trying to take safe shelter,until Rocko finally jumps into the rock, after Hubie went first. Shocked to feel Hubie, not knowing who it really is) Hey! What is that? Who is? Who's that? What did you doing?! Who--? (looks to see that it is Hubie) Aww! Get your own shelter! * 'Hubie: '(pushing Rocko) I was here first. * 'Rocko: '''So I was here second. So what? (''pushing Hubie) MOVE! Trivia *The scene where Drake is crushed to death while his lair collapsing is never mentioned in the print version, as well as the home release's Read-Along version, of the film, due to it is thought it would be traumatizing for young children. Instead, these version would say the Drake ends up fall to hi doom. See also *Read-Along: The Pebble and the Penguin - a video read-along version of the film that only found on the DVD/Blue-ray release.